NC: Rowan County Officials Erupt Over ACLU Lawsuit Challenging Its Official Public Prayers

The group’s [ACLU] letter sparked a series of angry commentaries by commissioners, including an email by Commissioner Jim Sides who said he would “volunteer to be the first to go to jail for” the cause of official public prayer at government meetings. Subsequent meetings featured prominent public prayers led by commission members and public comment periods became stacked with enthusiastic Christians lecturing about how the liberal Supreme Court cannot impose its will upon the free people of America.

…Meetings since the ACLU’s letter in February have continued to prominently feature an official Christian prayer, 13 of which are documented word-for-word in the lawsuit citing specific Christian terminology like “the birth of Jesus Christ,” “the guidance of the Holy Spirit,” and the “virgin birth.

Because it’s about the Christianist point of view to the exclusion of all others. These cretins simply don’t get it. No amount of rational discussion will help. The dinosaurs just need to be bounced from office. At least some of the sane residents in the county spoke up:

Rowan County resident Shakeisha Gray in particular, a self-professed Christian who is not part of the lawsuit, was cited in the ACLU’s complaint after she faced boos for taking issue with the commission’s disregard for clear legal precedent.

“You were chosen to represent all of those who reside in this county: the Christian, the Jewish, the Muslim, the Hindu, the Buddhist, the Pagan, the atheist, the agnostic and whatever else there may be,” she said. “My faith is not threatened by others who may believe different than I do. I’m not the only person in Rowan County who feels this way.”